Audio

Nickel City Sessions is held on the third Thursday of each month between January through May, taking a brief hiatus between June through August, and resuming from September through December. Featuring some of the best local, regional, and nationally touring songwriters and duos in the Traditional/Contemporary Folk, Americana, and singer songwriter genres performing around the country today, our goal is to grow this into a much talked about, as well as a much coveted series at which to perform, and attend.

Submission criteria -

I must stress that this is NOT an open mic, nor is it a series in which to casually try out new material. This series is an "in the round" style concert for experienced songwriters, for which the venue is charging attendees a $10 cover. Due to the intimate, stripped down nature of these shows, I request that you refrain from the use of looping or vocal harmonizer pedals. Many of our artists have released critically acclaimed albums, won songwriting awards at major Folk festivals, conferences, and songwriting competitions, and have performed at some of the finest listening room venues in the U.S. and abroad.

So, what do I need from you? A link to your website or EPK which should contain the following:

High quality studio recordings made in the last two years

hi-res photos and a short bio with performance history/press quotes/awards

recent, clearly shot live performance video(s)

I need to see that you have a web presence and a solid history as a performer, be it locally or as a touring artist. I need to see that you can tell stories, banter with an audience, and confidently perform your songs. I do not need you to guarantee me that you will be able to draw "X amount of people" to the venue, but I do expect you to promote the date as diligently as if it were your own series. This means sharing/inviting from the Facebook event page, use of additional social media outlets, inclusion on the calendar page of your website, word of mouth, email, etc.... and if you would like to receive a list of media contacts to send a press release to, I will get that to you. If you feel you have met the above criteria, please email me at booking@daveyo.com with "Nickel City Sessions" in the subject line. I promise to review your submission and reply either way.

The Lowdown -

At some point, everyone asks "so, is this a paying gig?', and this is something you absolutely need to know before committing to a date. The answer is "yes" but not a guaranteed payout. Neither I nor Mark Buell have made a profit from curating this series. In fact, until recently, I have come out of pocket to make sure that each performer has made something to cover part of their travel expenses. At present, the agreement with the venue is to provide compensation to the involved artists based on an equal split of the $10 admission. Additionally, you will keep 100% of any CD's and other merchandise you sell at the show. If you are a touring artist booked for this series, I would strongly advise using this as a routing date, and not as an anchor date!!! Have I forgotten anything? Let me know if I have!!! Thank you for reading through all of this VERY CAREFULLY!!! - Davey O.